This message is clear: Eat Real Food. Why are people debating this recommendation?
/Last week, the US Department of Health and Human Services in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture released the updated food pyramid, a visual representation of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans for 2025-2030. It’s an inverted pyramid, seemingly resembling a slice of pizza or pie. Yet the image contains no ultra-processed, convenience or fast foods – only whole foods and a few minimally processed foods like olive oil and yogurt. The message at the top reads: Eat Real Food.
To me, this is a breath of fresh air! Finally, it makes sense from a functional nutrition – and human evolution – perspective. When I shared my hope for the future of our country’s health on a Facebook post showing this image with a description of the guidelines, I received judgmental, accusatory feedback. One woman told me I must not be good at my job, and the other called me privileged. Oh, my. How to respond? I’ll tell you but first let’s look at what the Dietary Guidelines mean, what’s changed over time, and why I approve of the updates.
In the late 1800’s, the first nutrition guidelines were published for farmers to describe the nutritive values of foods – even before vitamins had been discovered (1). In the early 20th century, the guidelines evolved to describe calories, proportions and to support an affordable diet high in nutrients a low in fats, sugars and starches (2). Soon, there was a guide with food groups for young children, followed by one for adults (3). In 1933, the Great Depression caused changes in recommendations to based on affordability and scarcity3. By 1943, the recommendations were based on eating as well as possible in a time of post-war food shortage, indicating that the following seven food groups would provide nourishment: 1 – green and yellow vegetables; 2 – oranges, tomatoes and grapefruit; 3 – potatoes and other vegetables and fruits; 4 – milk and milk products; 5 – meat, poultry, fish or eggs; 6 – bread, flour and cereals; 7 – butter and fortified margarine2, 4. With a clearer understanding of nutrients, the messaging highlighted that these foods were necessary for good eyesight, immunity, strong bones and muscles, and energy (4).
By the 1970’s, Sweden designed a food pyramid to help people choose “basic” and “supplementary” foods centered around cost – not on nutrient needs – making much of the guidance misleading (2). While the USDA was designing its own food pyramid, by the 1980’s recommendations included what to promote – maintain a healthy weight by eating a wide variety of foods, including ample fiber – and what to avoid – too much fat (including saturated fats and cholesterol), sugar, salt and alcohol5. By the 1990’s, themes relied heavily on fitness and choosing “sensibly” (5).
In 1992, the USDA presented its own version of food pyramid with messaging suggesting how much of each of five food groups should be eaten daily6. One such recommendation was that bread, cereals, grains, rice and pasta should make up a large percentage of our diet, a whopping 6-11 servings per day (6). It cautioned us to consume fats, oils and sweets “sparingly,” emphasizing moderate intake of a low-fat, low energy diet6. Eight years later, the food pyramid was adapted for different cultures, reflecting the Mediterranean Diet, Asian Diet and Vegetarian Diet and diets for different age groups6. In 2011, MyPlate replaced the food pyramid with a simple visual that removed recommendations for proportions and endeavored to promote balanced meals through the standpoint of health equity (6, 7).
Over these decades, challenges with the Dietary Guidelines were many, more recently implicating high intakes of processed foods, encouraging thoughtful meals with vague guidance, and lacking instructions about which foods in each category were actually healthy versus contributing to disease. It’s easy to argue that whether the recommendations were specific or vague, they supported cheaper, subsidized, convenience foods because that’s what most Americans could afford. Simultaneously, agriculture was subsidized to grow more of these foods more cheaply, and when they turned out be nutrient-poor thereby contributing to nutrient insufficiencies, these foods were fortified with nutrients to ensure they “checked the boxes” of nutrient needs.
Originally, the Dietary Guidelines were developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and, in 1980 when Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was formed, the guidelines became a collaborative effort to educate the public about a nutritious diet. The joint effort meant shared research, data, oversight and implementation of the guidelines. However, the influences of the modern agriculture system remained, and the basis of health was fairness rather than scientific, nutritional data7.
One significant change in the foundations for the Dietary Guidelines is recommending a diet for the prevention and reversal of chronic disease not, as in previous iterations, based on equity7. Obviously, health equity is important – if we cannot access suggested foods or they don’t fit into our cultural cuisine, then the guidelines do not apply. Another shift suggesting eating fewer grains and more protein. Because of what our modern food system is producing (and how), with massive subsidies for conventional agriculture making processed foods cheaper than real, whole foods, and the guidelines designed to inform food choices in schools and military operations, it will take time to implement changes.
The updated Dietary Guidelines are not perfect – how can they be? They address the general population across ages, cultures, socioeconomic status, access and constraints8. Nutrition, however, is highly personalized.
So, how did I respond to the naysayers? With hope, an open mind and the intention to make a connection, not a debate. Simply, we humans are designed to eat, metabolize and utilize foods grown naturally and minimally processed. Our bodies deem everything else as foreign, and it wreaks havoc on our health. I see this firsthand in my clinical work and when I worked for the Department of Health & Welfare – the closer we get to consuming real food, the healthier we become. We cannot argue with that – though science is complex, the data backs it up.
References:
(1) https://archive.org/details/CAT87201446
(2) https://www.britannica.com/science/food-pyramid
(4) https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc619/m1/1/
(5) https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/about-dietary-guidelines/previous-editions
(6) https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/food-guide-pyramid
(7) https://realfood.gov/#resources
(8) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5916427/
Image credit:
Eat the basic 7… EVERY DAY! Retrieved from United States. War Food Administration. Eat the Basic 7-- every day! : eat a lunch that packs a punch!, poster, 1943; [Washington, D.C.]. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc619/: accessed January 12, 2026), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
Article originally published on 5BGazette.com